We Are All So Good At Smiling by Amber McBride - HIGH

We Are All So Good At Smiling by Amber McBride , 283 pages.  Feiwel and Friends/Macmillan. 2023. $18. 

Language: G (0 swears 0 'f'); Mature Content: PG (Suicidal thoughts (nondescriptive) and clinical depression). Violence: PG (talk of cutting, undescribed) 

BUYING ADVISORY: MS, HS - ADVISABLE 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH 

Two depressed teens, 18yo Whimsy and Faerry, meet at a mental hospital and then become neighbors and attend high school together. They’re both suffering from depression and memory loss from when they were young children. They’re not sure what they’re not remembering but it’s bothering both of them to the point of despair. They become friends that want to help each other and understand each other’s problems. They need each other to process the trauma they’ve been through and to help the lost information resurface. 

The writing is metaphorical and beautiful. I was intrigued by the mystery surrounding the story. I like Whimsy and Faerry, the two main characters. The two main characters are black and they attend a predominantly white school. 

LynnDell Watson, Delta HS Librarian